My husband has been a huge lover of sports for the last 30 years. While I only half watch and listen to football games, basketball games, races and tournaments, I’ve found that many sports analogies are quite useful in life.

In fact the other day my husband said a basketball team should never change their signature strength no matter who they are playing. For example, a team that is strong on the three point shot should not try to play an inside game close to the basket just because they’re playing a team that can block three point shots.

“When you change your game to suit your opponent, then you change who you are and most likely you won’t win.” my husband explained. “If you play using your strengths and lose, you were going to lose anyway.”

This conversation reminded me of something that may seem unrelated, but struck a strong a chord with me. Recently I interviewed a success coach, Ericka D. Jackson, for an article about forging a new career after 40 and she suggested that it’s counterproductive to look for an interesting job first and then try to fit yourself into the position.

Instead Jackson said you should write down all of the elements you’d want in a job—create your own job description in accordance with your strengths—and use that document to direct your job search.

In other words you name the game.

Also regarding personal strengths, Farrah Gray, author of Reallionaire: Nine Steps to Becoming Rich from the Inside Out, says we should build from what we know and love. “Your personal passion is the best guide,” he wrote.

The best-selling young author who became a millionaire before his twenty first birthday says one of the best strategies in life is to “niche your way to success.”